Tennessee Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Burns Phillips take the state’s focus on veteran employment to a national stage.

Tennessee, along with Iowa and Michigan, has been designated as an “All Star Vet State.”

The pilot partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Hiring Our Heroes initiative includes a web-portal which helps veterans and service members all over the country quickly access Volunteer State resources at www.allvet

Roane County’s Paw Paw Creek mitigation, completed by S&ME Inc., is among five Knoxville area projects nominated for the American Council of Engineering Companies of Tennessee’s 2014 Tennessee Engineering Excellence Awards.

The award, one of the highest honors a project team can receive, is considered the “Academy Awards of the engineering industry.”

S&ME provided compensatory mitigation services for the area of Paw Paw Creek to compensate for environmental impacts on the area.

Riley Wayne Bright of Rockwood is a new junior member of the American Angus Association.

Junior association members are eligible to register cattle in the American Angus Association, participate in programs conducted by the National Junior Angus Association and take part in Association-sponsored shows and other national and regional events.

The American Angus Association is the largest beef breed association in the world, with more than 24,000 active adult and junior members.

Total fatalities and days away from work as a result of injuries and illnesses were both improved in Tennessee for the second consecutive year, according to a workplace safety report released by the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Develop-ment.